‘Found’ notes prompt U.S. Attorney to drop drug case
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 17, 2007
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — On the eve of trial, the U.S. Attorney’s office has moved to dismiss drug charges against
Khalid Mason, who has claimed Providence police and his former defense lawyer, the brother of Mayor David
N. Cicilline, conspired to set him up and then make the case against him and his partner disappear for
$200,000.
The motion was prompted by the discovery of police surveillance notes pivotal in the drug case, documents
dating as far back as January 2004, which police detectives have testified never existed.
“In view of this late disclosure and in order to avoid any potential unfairness to the defendant, the government
moves for the dismissal of the indictment against defendant Khalid Mason,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney
Stephen G. Dambruch.
The motion will be heard by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on Monday, when the trial against Mason
was to have begun.
Last month, Mason testified that Providence police had planted drugs in his apartment at 214 Pavilion Ave. in
Providence.
Mason also claimed his defense lawyer, John M. Cicilline, offered to have the criminal charges dropped if
Mason and codefendant Derek W. Isom each paid him $100,000.
Smith ruled the drugs admissible as evidence, saying in a written decision that Mason failed to provide
sufficient evidence to prove his allegations.
“But, at the same time,” he wrote, the suppression hearing “did expose decrepit policies and practices of the
Providence Police Department that have supplied fodder for the allegations in this case.”
Smith wrote that he found “truly astonishing” testimony by the lead detective in the case, Scott Partridge, that he
failed to document a single event during extensive surveillance in January 2004 of alleged drug-dealing
involving Mason and Isom.
Isom, formerly of 85 Dunnell Ave, Pawtucket, has pleaded guilty to crack cocaine charges and is awaiting
sentencing.
A second detective, Peter Conley, also testified he took no notes during the surveillance, which led to a search
warrant for Mason’s apartment and, ultimately, to the arrest of both men last October.
During the suppression hearing, Cicilline and his paralegal, Lisa Torres, both refused to answer questions
about their relationship with Partridge or any other Providence officers, invoking their Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination.
On Tuesday, Smith said that during Mason’s trial he would consider immunizing the testimony of Cicilline and
Torres, according to Mason’s lawyer, Michael Connolly, of Boston. They face trial on a federal indictment on
similar allegations in Boston.
Later the same day, the Providence police notified the U.S. Attorney’s office that one of the detectives in the
case, who remains unidentified, had “located a file containing surveillance reports, notes, license checks, and
reports related to this investigation” in his home, according to the dismissal motion. It said the U.S. Attorney’s
office inspected the notes on Wednesday.
Tom Connell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, declined all comment last night.
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 17, 2007
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — On the eve of trial, the U.S. Attorney’s office has moved to dismiss drug charges against
Khalid Mason, who has claimed Providence police and his former defense lawyer, the brother of Mayor David
N. Cicilline, conspired to set him up and then make the case against him and his partner disappear for
$200,000.
The motion was prompted by the discovery of police surveillance notes pivotal in the drug case, documents
dating as far back as January 2004, which police detectives have testified never existed.
“In view of this late disclosure and in order to avoid any potential unfairness to the defendant, the government
moves for the dismissal of the indictment against defendant Khalid Mason,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney
Stephen G. Dambruch.
The motion will be heard by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on Monday, when the trial against Mason
was to have begun.
Last month, Mason testified that Providence police had planted drugs in his apartment at 214 Pavilion Ave. in
Providence.
Mason also claimed his defense lawyer, John M. Cicilline, offered to have the criminal charges dropped if
Mason and codefendant Derek W. Isom each paid him $100,000.
Smith ruled the drugs admissible as evidence, saying in a written decision that Mason failed to provide
sufficient evidence to prove his allegations.
“But, at the same time,” he wrote, the suppression hearing “did expose decrepit policies and practices of the
Providence Police Department that have supplied fodder for the allegations in this case.”
Smith wrote that he found “truly astonishing” testimony by the lead detective in the case, Scott Partridge, that he
failed to document a single event during extensive surveillance in January 2004 of alleged drug-dealing
involving Mason and Isom.
Isom, formerly of 85 Dunnell Ave, Pawtucket, has pleaded guilty to crack cocaine charges and is awaiting
sentencing.
A second detective, Peter Conley, also testified he took no notes during the surveillance, which led to a search
warrant for Mason’s apartment and, ultimately, to the arrest of both men last October.
During the suppression hearing, Cicilline and his paralegal, Lisa Torres, both refused to answer questions
about their relationship with Partridge or any other Providence officers, invoking their Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination.
On Tuesday, Smith said that during Mason’s trial he would consider immunizing the testimony of Cicilline and
Torres, according to Mason’s lawyer, Michael Connolly, of Boston. They face trial on a federal indictment on
similar allegations in Boston.
Later the same day, the Providence police notified the U.S. Attorney’s office that one of the detectives in the
case, who remains unidentified, had “located a file containing surveillance reports, notes, license checks, and
reports related to this investigation” in his home, according to the dismissal motion. It said the U.S. Attorney’s
office inspected the notes on Wednesday.
Tom Connell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, declined all comment last night.
| Christopher F. Young (Democrat) Candidate for Mayor of Providence |
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